


The lover of my lover is (not) my enemy

by Pidgey



Series: Second Impressions [5]
Category: Justified
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 07:51:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12008319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pidgey/pseuds/Pidgey
Summary: Some days Winona regrets meeting Raylan Givens. And some days she meets Boyd Crowder





	The lover of my lover is (not) my enemy

Winona gets out of the car and pulls the back door open. She coos at Willa while unbuckling her from her car seat with practised ease. She shifts the baby onto one hip and swings the diaper bag onto her opposite shoulder. Kicking the door shut she turns around and startles with a gasp when she sees a man sitting on the porch bench. He’s finely dressed, wearing a black, pinstripe, 3-piece suit with a pocket watch in his waistcoat pocket. Winona is unpleasantly reminded of finding Wynn Duffy in her kitchen and steps backward. The man stands slowly, hands in the air to show they’re empty. Winona eyes him warily and turns her body slightly, instinctively putting herself between the dark-haired man and her child.

“I didn’t mean to startle you ma’am, I genuinely did not know you would be here,” the man is soft spoken but his Kentucky drawl puts Winona on edge. Neither Winona nor Raylan left many friends behind in Kentucky.

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing at my house?” Winona demands sternly.

“Am I correct in presuming you are Winona Givens?” the man asks, taking another step forward.

Winona matches him with another step back, “Depends on who is asking. Answer my damn question!”

“I do apologize; I seem to have forgotten my manners. I am Boyd Crowder.”

“Oh, goddamn it.” Winona curses lowly and hangs her head, “Course you are.”

“Excuse me?” Boyd drops his hands and raises an eyebrow.

“Are you here to kill him? Or me?” Winona bites out, shaking with a mixture of anger and fear but voice steady and fierce. Willa starts to fuss, sensing the tension.

“I swear, on whatever is left holy in this world, I don’t mean any harm to you, Raylan, or your baby.” His tone is sincere and his eyes wide and honest.

“Well excuse me if I don’t trust you. You did stalk him out to New Mexico.”

“Only to talk.”

“Well he doesn’t live here! So, you may as well be on your way!” She shifts the diaper bag uncomfortably as it slips off her shoulder.

“Can we sit and talk for a moment.” Boyd all but begs, stepping forward again.

“You stay right there!” She exclaims fiercely and desperately. Willa lets out a pitiful whine at the noise.

Boyd raises his hands again, a look of contrition on his face, “As you command, Mrs Givens. But may I offer a compromise? I will walk this way,” he points across the yard away from Winona, “keeping my distance, and we switch places so you and your daughter can sit?”

Winona hesitates but eventually nods and Boyd leaves the porch, his movements slow and deliberate. Winona is struck but how bizarre the situation is as she and the criminal circle each other on the lawn. She gets to the porch and contemplates rushing inside but knows Boyd could rush forward before she gets the door unlocked. The man seems calm now but she doesn’t want to test his patience.

Once she and Willa were situated on the bench she glares at Boyd again. He is standing casually on the lawn, hands in his pockets, waiting patiently, “I told you he doesn’t live here. What do you want?”

“You followed him out here?” Boyd ignores her question.

“We’re not together, if that’s what you’re asking.” Winona bites out, wondering if that was why she was being harassed right now.

“It wasn’t; I have no claim on him.” Boyd intones immediately and without inflection and she doesn’t believe it at all, “Where is Raylan?”

“Even if I knew why would I tell you?” Winona says. Her bravado is a show though. She would tell this man just about anything to protect her little girl. Raylan was a big boy. He could take care of himself if she was forced to send Boyd his way.

Boyd sighs and it sounds exhausted, “Why does everyone think they need to protect him from me? Am I really so evil? Can I point out he is the one who shot me and not the other way around?”

“Maybe you should take that as a hint.” She scoffs.

Boyd laughs, a genuine, warm sound, “Maybe. But we were very different people then. Raylan did what he had to.”

“What are you really doing here?” curiousity bleeds into her tone.

“Is it so hard to believe I want to talk to him? If I am going to lose him again…” Boyd looks away and swallows, his voice drops low, “He disappeared once and for twenty long years I believed that was the last I would see of Raylan Givens. I am not fool enough to think I can bring him back, but this time I intend to try.”

The silence hangs, broken only by Willa’s soft giggles as she buries a chubby hand in Winona’s hair, tugging and twirling the soft curls.

“We did actually meet once-you and me. At the courthouse. You were there with that redhead from the mine.” Winona muses distractedly.

“I don’t recall meeting you I’m afraid.” Boyd says gently, unsure of the non-sequitur.

“Mmn. I had other things on my mind too. It was brief. But I remember you staring at him as if you wanted to burn a hole straight through him.”

Boyd says nothing.

“You know,” Winona laughs, staring at her baby with a sad look in here eye, gently untangling her hair from the harder tugs, “I think it’s always been about you. Even when I thought it was about me, it was about you.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand your meaning.”

“First thing back in Harlan, he shoots you. He broke into my house after you know? He didn’t talk about you directly... but lookin’ back, that’s what it was. And I think at that moment, not that he’d admit it, he was plannin’ on never leaving Harlan again.”

“Well he did.” Boyd points out.

She hmphs and shoots him a look, “That’s the other thing. I couldn’t get him to leave Kentucky. I couldn’t even get him to move out of that damn motel room. Even when I was pregnant. I all but begged and he dragged his feet until I couldn’t wait any more. But he realises he is in love with you? Suddenly he’s begging me to move to New Mexico with him ASAP.”

“He left because he’s in love with me?” Winona shoots him a withering glare. It is cruel, he supposes, to sit here talking about Raylan’s love with his ex-wife but he can’t help himself. He and Raylan had never actually said the words.

“So, you’re sayin’ he wouldn’t leave because of me but he only left because of me?” Boyd contemplates.

“I’m saying it was always about you. You and Harlan. He didn’t really want to leave either behind.” She snaps.

They let the silence hang for a moment. Winona watches her daughter with a small, fond smile.

“I never had any idea while we were married you know?” she says softly. Boyd looks at her quizzically.

“Not that it makes a difference. But I should just add it to the massive list of things he never told me, shut me out of. That he was bisexual I mean.” She shrugs.

Boyd cringes minutely, “I don’t know about all that.”

Winona smirks and digs at him, “You don’t consider yourself bisexual Mr Crowder?”

“That word is not really in Harlan’s vocabulary, ma’am. Bit modern for my tastes, probably for Raylan’s too. Not much point in an ‘identity’ for a man like me." he admits, "And please, call me Boyd.”

“Only if you call me Winona. Not Givens anymore and I’m sure as hell not a Mrs either anymore.”

“Fair enough Winona.”

Willa scrunches up her face and lets out a pitiful whine.

“She’s hungry and I don’t have any bottles left out here.” Winona states, her meaning clear ‘ _and no way in hell are you coming inside’._

“Alright then Miss Winona. I’ve outstayed my welcome. But when you speak with Raylan, all I’m asking is he meets me.” He reaches into his coat pocket, ignoring Winona’s flinch, and pulls out a piece of paper and a pen. He scrawls out an address and phone number, holds up the piece of paper to show her and turns to walk away, slipping the paper into the mail box.

“It was delightful to meet you Miss Winona.” He calls over his shoulder.

“Go to hell Boyd Crowder.” Winona mumbles under her breath. She moves inside the house and locks the door behind her. She lets out a relieved sigh, letting the keys and diaper bag drop the the floor with a jingle and a thud. Winona sinks back against the front door and looks at the hungry, fussy baby in her arms. Biting her lip she moves to the kitchen to make up a new bottle for Willa and wait for her idiot of a man to get home. 

**Author's Note:**

> Fought with this one a lot, short as it is. Feedback appreciated.


End file.
